Plymouth's $48 million sewer project ahead of schedule, under budget

Wednesday

Oct 4, 2017 at 5:00 AM

Nearly two years after the first sewer leak was detected, the end is in sight.

Frank Mand fmand@wickedlocal.com @frankmandOCM

PLYMOUTH – When Plymouth’s 15-year-old sewer force main began to literally crumble before our eyes – in late December 2015 – sewer water began to bubble up from the ground, just a few feet away from the expressway.

The town’s Department of Public Works went into crisis mode and within a few weeks – after more breaks in the iron pipeline – it was clear that the entire system would have to be replaced at a cost of close to $50 million.

Now, nearly two years after the first leak was detected, the end is in sight.

“We are pleased to say that we are nearing completion,” DPW Director Jonathan Beder told the Old Colony this week.

“We have 1,500 feet left on Westerly, 1,000 feet on Alden, and approximately 1,400 in the easement along Route 3 before the treatment plant,” Beder said. “We anticipate that all pipe work will be done the first week in November 2017.”

They test the pipe as they install it, and Beder says that once fully installed the redundant pipe (there are now two parallel pipes in the ground) will go into operation and become the town’s primary sewer force main.

Though the pipe will be operational in November, restoration work (on lawns, gardens, sidewalks, driveways and other areas disrupted by the work) will continue through the fall and, in a few areas, will likely last until the spring.

“This has been an extensive project,” Beder said, “and we are very pleased that it will be completed ahead of schedule and under budget.”

Most agree that is a project that never should have had to be undertaken at all, at least not so soon after the force main was completed in 2000, and that is the subject of ongoing litigation. The town filed suit against the sewer system operator last year to try to recover costs.

Since the full scope of the work was determined and construction began, the DPW and contractors have moved rapidly forward with few disruptions to their schedule.

And with the end in sight, and also the time when the town will have to start paying for the new, redundant sewer force main, the news is also good.

According to Finance Director Lynn Barrett the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust Board of Trustees has approved Plymouth’s request for “principal forgiveness” through their Affordability Program.

“There is a federal grant condition that requires the Trust give away as principal forgiveness a portion of the federal grant,” Barrett explained. “Also, through an amendment to the Clean Water Act the Trust created a new ranking system for these funds. It takes per capita income, employment rate and population trends and comes up with an adjusted per capita income for each community throughout the state.

“Any community below the state average receives a subsidy, divided up among three tiers to target the subsidy to the neediest communities. Plymouth is in the first tier, meaning we are closer to the state average, so do not receive as much subsidy as say a more in-need community, but we still receive some."

The Board of Trustees has also agreed to stagger the borrowing of the $48.2 million over a four year period equally on an annual basis, Barrett said.

“What this means is we are gradually building up each year one-quarter of the total borrowing until we have borrowed long-term the full amount," Barret said. "The plan right now is to do each borrowing over a 30 year period at the 2.4 percent, under the MASS DEP CWT program. This borrowing program will start with the first loan’s principal and interest starting in the Fiscal 2019 budget.”

What does it mean to the town?

“What it means in savings is we don’t have to borrow $744,157 right off the top of the $48.2 million,” Barrett said. “The staggered borrowing equates to a deferral of principal and interest payments in the first three years of borrowing (FY2019, 2020 and 2021) of approximately $3.5 million to the end of the borrowing schedule (FY2049, 2050 and 2051).”

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